Fuel Quality and Infrastructure legislation

LATEST UPDATE (September 2020)

Standard reference fuels are referred to in source emissions legislation. The Commission awarded a contract to a consultant for technical assessment of transport fuel quality parameters on 11 December 2019. Depending on the results, the external study would serve as the basis for a possible Impact Assessment on amending the Fuel Quality Directive (Directive 98/70/EC, also known as FQD), with particular emphasis on alignment to the Renewable Energy Directive (Directive (EU) 2018/2001, also known as REDII) in terms of including all alternative and renewable fuels available in RED II.

CURRENT EU LEGISLATION

Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1595770975484&uri=CELEX:01998L0070-20181224

Directive 2009/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 98/70/EC as regards the specification of petrol, diesel and gas-oil and introducing a mechanism to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and amending Council Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the specification of fuel used by inland waterway vessels and repealing Directive 93/12/EEC (Fuel Quality Directive)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A32009L0030

Directive 2009/28/EC (RED I) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1595771060471&uri=CELEX:02009L0028-20151005

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (RED II) entered into force in December 2018, setting the overall EU target for Renewable Energy Sources consumption by 2030 to 32%. Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1595771110093&uri=CELEX:32018L2001

HISTORY OF FUEL QUALITY EMISSIONS STANDARDS

The levels of sulfur in fuel are an important factor in the performance of most emissions control technologies. The lower the sulfur levels in fuels the better the catalyst performance that can be obtained. For this reason, European legislation has limited road and non-road fuel sulfur content to 10 ppm (max.) since 2009 and 2011 respectively.

European standards set fuel quality and composition (cleanliness):

EN590 for diesel

EN228 for gasoline (including E5 and E10)

EN589 for LPG

EN 14214 for Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME), commonly known as biodiesel B100

EN 15376 for (bio)ethanol for blending into petrol

EN 15940 for paraffinic diesel fuel

EN 16734 for diesel fuel B10

EN 16709 for diesel fuel B20/B30 (dedicated fleets only)